


Biotic Revelation

by Nebulad



Series: Sea of Stars [28]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Biotics, F/M, Fluff, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 21:29:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9403658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nebulad/pseuds/Nebulad
Summary: “Shep, did you bring your puffer planetside?” he asked, leaning over cover to snipe the marauder coming up behind her. She exhaled.“Yeah, got it. Not the best time right now,” she said.“Soon as you can, sweetheart,” he returned, stealing a cannibal kill she’d been about to make. She turned back and flipped him off, and he returned the favour by sniping a husk before it leapt on her. “Focus, Shep,” he reminded her.





	

Shepard couldn’t wear armour anymore— the feedback from the suit and the weight of it were all interfering with her cybernetics. Miranda promised to look into it, but Faust waved her off: _you got a lot on your plate, Miri, I’ll figure something out._

She had a jumpsuit instead; it took no readings of her core systems during a fight, it provided no extra padding between the enemy and her squishy human body, and it was black. Faust liked black, and liked the red Spectre logo stitched across the back. Garrus figured it was a special requisition, the entire outfit right down to the knee high boots with thick straps that she never folded neatly enough to meet uniform standards. She also rolled the sleeves up to her elbows sloppily, left it unzipped to her waist, and constantly had her hands shoved in the pockets— but who would call Commander Shepard in for dress code during a war?

The gun belt was downright hazardous, but she’d just elbow nudged him when he brought it up. “Not real worried,” she told him.

“ _I_ am. What if you can’t yank your shotgun out in time?” he asked. She grinned in that weird, deflective sort of way that told him she had something to say, but not yet. He rolled his eyes. “Whatever you’ve got planned, let me know _before_ we take the field.”

She didn’t, so it was a surprise when she leapt off the edge of a building and used her biotics to float down. Few humans were capable of that kind of power, but he figured if there were only going to be a handful of humans able to do something incredible, it wasn’t surprising that Shepard was one of them (and less surprising that she kept the company of the handful of _other_ humans who could do it too).

Her plan was to boost her biotics— simple, really, as she’d never even tried to harness the full breadth of her powers. “Vanguards are sort of a _full-contact_ class,” Faust explained. “I’m better at biotics than techs, engineers, and soldiers, but not as good as an adept. Cerberus technically handed me some of the most advanced biotic equipment in the universe— plus shit like having cybernetics instead of bones in some spots— and Alliance hooked me up with the best teacher they have, and we’re working through it.”

That was all the forewarning Garrus received for Jack’s temporary return to the Normandy. He’d never been _close_ to the biotic— not as close as Shepard— but he liked her just fine. Upon her return, she took meals either in the cockpit with EDI or in the gun room with him, not eager to form brand new relationships during a war.

While he saw a fair amount of Jack, his Shepard sightings plummeted. She was rarely out of the cargo bay where she practiced drills and worked out so hard that Vega could train with her even without the eezo. Garrus was grateful for that, he supposed. The more training she got, the less likely she was to get caught between a brute and a hard place.

At the same time, he missed her a little.

. . . . .

There was only one person in the galaxy, logically, that would be crawling into bed next to him, and yet it didn’t stop him from jumping and then grabbing Shepard to drag her up into the light. “Loosen up a bit, Gare,” she mumbled, rolling her shoulders.

“Some people announce themselves instead of sneaking up on the ex-vigilantes,” he reminded her, but let go. “Did I hurt you?”

“Nah— scared the shit out of me though. What’s got you so jumpy?” she asked.

“Being woken up by someone I haven’t seen in a month hopping in next to me,” he said, putting his arm around her. She even had their blanket with her— the special one, big and thin, that they put in between them to reduce cuddle-chafing. He could still feel her through it, but she usually woke up without irritated red skin.

“On the bright side I’m _so_ fucking biotic now,” she said, nuzzling him.

“Just what I needed; you to charge _more often.”_

“Tell me with a straight face that you don’t think it’s hot,” she teased.

“I’m _concerned,_ not _dead,”_ he returned, pressing little imitation kisses to her head. “So you’re a regular Adept now?”

“God no. Like with all the love in my heart for Kaidan and Miri and Jack— I still have a shotgun and bad attitude. More biotics, maybe, but I can still throw a punch even if I can’t take a hit as well as a normal Vanguard. That’s what the barrier’s for anyway.” She rolled on her back and put up her hands, creating that barrier in the air above them. “This one that I have to think to keep up, and the other one that just sort of happens.”

“Just happens?”

“With enough military training, you sort of subconsciously throw up this biotic barrier to keep the bullets from turning you into cheese,” she said. “That plus _staggering_ hand-to-hand skills…”

“I _let_ you win.”

“I’m actually in pretty good shape for battle. It was harder unlocking my _inner biotic potential_ than I thought it’d be but… it turned out okay.” She shrugged and shut her eyes, letting the shimmering purple energy around them drop.

“I thought biotics were blue?” he asked.

“Vanguard thing,” she told him sagely. He accepted the answer with minimal prodding— her barriers had always been purple, after all.

. . . . .

Garrus was actually taken aback by Faust the next time they were on the battlefield. She was more aware of her body right off— it was less of a battering ram and more of a weapon, finely tuned and carefully calibrated. She was constantly glowing too, which he found… visually appealing. The basic nature of her jumpsuit didn’t hold her back either.

Her charges were more calculated while remaining as recklessly used as ever. She wasn’t afraid of using her body while she waited to use her gun, but the _way_ she did it spoke of control, careful calculation, and the purely-Shepard sense of vicious pleasure taken from it. She was made for this— almost literally when taking Cerberus into account.

She kept on her breather mask almost constantly, with physical exertion irritating her asthma more than it usually had. _Biotics are a fucking chore, lung-wise,_ she’d told him when he finally worked up the nerve to venture down and watch her train. He could hear her breathing over the comm. “Shep, did you bring your puffer planetside?” he asked, leaning over cover to snipe the marauder coming up behind her. She exhaled.

“Yeah, got it. Not the best time right now,” she said.

“Soon as you can, sweetheart,” he returned, stealing a cannibal kill she’d been about to make. She turned back and flipped him off, and he returned the favour by sniping a husk before it leapt on her. “Focus, Shep,” he reminded her.

She brought out her shotgun and he was a little relieved. With the mods she had on that thing, she didn’t need _focus._

. . . . .

“Is this weird?” Faust asked, levitating just above the bed in a blue haze. Barriers were purple, but biotics were blue. It was all very colour coded and confusing.

“No… a little inconvenient though,” he said, reaching up to pull her back to the blanket nest they were in.

“I meant… everything. I just— ” He stayed quiet and let her work through her tangled thoughts, running the pad of his thumbs down her stomach. “Does it ever scare you?” she asked finally.

“Lots of things scare me Shep.”

“I mean us. Do we scare you?” she asked anxiously. He grinned a little— nervous now, very nervous, because he thought after they got through all the weird _are we or aren’t we_ that he wouldn’t have to worry about her not being able to stand the whole alien thing.

“We’re not _that_ scary,” he teased, but his voice betrayed him. She rolled to her knees and kissed him— mouth, chin, forehead, cheeks, mouth, and he felt silly because she knew he’d been afraid.

“I meant us as people. Does it scare you how… fucked we’ve gotten?” she asked. He inclined his head a little. “It’s just— when we met? You were a cop and I barely used a _pull_ during battle. Now suddenly I’m not even human anymore and I can do shit with my biotics that humanity at large can only _dream_ of, and you’re an ex-vigilante with a place in the Hierarchy that they had to _invent._ We’ve just… we’re not the same people,” she said, folding her arms across her chest defensively.

“And that makes us damaged?” he asked.

“This sure doesn’t feel like an improvement,” she said bitterly.

“I thought you liked the biotics?” He felt a little guilty about ogling her from his perch now.

“I _do.”_ She was frustrated now, and he waited. “I just don’t feel the same _anything_ anymore. Everything is different and I think about becoming a Spectre and how _excited_ I was… how scared I was of the geth, how nervous krogan made me… I just don’t feel it anymore.”

“You grew up a little,” he told her comfortingly. “You realized that your Spectre status didn’t give you a free pass, you realized that there are scarier things than misguided synthetics, and you’ve met krogan that you care about. Big things become small, abstracts become a reality— it doesn’t mean we’re _completely_ screwed up.” He played with her hair absently.

“So you don’t think we’re fucked?” she asked.

“I think we are, and I think even once this war is over we’re gunna have a long road ahead of us, but I’m not worried because that’s never stopped us before,” he assured her. She relaxed against him, shutting her eyes.

“I like that.”

“Yeah? Good. I like you.”

“Flirt.”

“You’re supposed to say that you like me too,” he scolded her.

“I _love_ you,” she said, looking up to meet his eye. He grinned nervously. “That’s right asshole, whatcha gunna do about _that?”_ She was so _smug._

He kissed her, and she let him win.

**Author's Note:**

> 1) [My writing blog is here](http://nebulaad.tumblr.com)
> 
> 2) Shepard being cybernetic has no consequences even though technically as a game mechanic I'm assuming her armour is responsible for monitoring her vitals? Or at least _something_ beyond the role of regular armour?
> 
> 3) Human biotics aren't as cool as alien biotics for some reason which? Genuinely? Like honestly? Bioware if you keep fucking forcing me to play as a human then why the fuck are you purposely making them so fucking _dull?_
> 
> 4) Genuinely this whole fic was written to give Shepard cool legacy not-armour like. I'm a fan of the jumpsuit I made up in my goddamn head.
> 
> 5) I lied this fic was written 100% for Faust literally floating over top of Garrus and then asking him if it's weird.


End file.
